1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for effecting securities trades. More specifically, the invention relates to computer software and hardware that enables clients to directly work and allocate a trade of a basket of stocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automated systems are used by brokerages to reduce the time required to place an order or trade with an exchange. The broker/dealer is usually a member of one or more exchange markets and its traders execute trades in the name of the broker/dealer. The broker/dealer may trade its own portfolio of stocks but it also executes trades for investors that are not members of the exchange market. The broker/dealer may work a basket of stocks manually or automatically using software such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,535 issued Oct. 17, 2000 to Belzberg. The system and methods of Belzberg, however, are used by the trader and the broker/dealer client has no control over the program trades made by the trader. Furthermore, Belzberg does not address the problem of allocating the executed trades among more than one account.
The broker/dealer usually has several clients that are institutional investors. Institutional investors usually manage large portfolios of stocks such as, for example, mutual funds, hedge funds, and pension plans. The institutional investors are not members of the exchange markets and use a broker/dealer to place and execute their trades. Moreover, institutional investors usually trade a large group of stocks as a single group. Furthermore, institutional investors may manage several different accounts and must be able to allocate the executed trades to the correct account.
Therefore, there remains a need for systems and methods that allow an investor to create and execute their own trading program and to allocate their trades to their own accounts.